Abstract
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines worldwide have enforced strict travel restrictions, driving passengers to seek alternative transportations such as High-Speed Railway (HSR). Nevertheless, the current understanding of HSR travelers’ behavior is scarce. Moreover, despite the extensive application of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to explain and predict patrons and tourists’ behavior in the tourism and hospitality context, little research has employed this theory to examine HSR travelers’ processes in making travelling decisions. This study developed a research model by integrating perceived quality into the TPB and examined the relation between HSR passengers’ service quality and intention to travel in the future and the mediating effect of TPB attributes. It is found that perceived train service quality and perceived travel quality have a significant influence on the TPB attributes, which further influence HSR travelers’ travel intention. This study contributes practical implications to destinations and the travel industry that they might attract visitors by marketing the corresponding HSR train service quality and travel experience quality. This also provides recovery guidelines for the transportation and travel industry after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
All 10 items were included in the initial principal component analysis (PCA)
The results showed that the two dimensions (PSQ and PTQ) were distinct, with no item cross-loading
A significant interaction between perceived behavioral control (PBC) and travel distance was found on consumers’ intention to travel via High-Speed Railways (HSR) (p < 0.05). This indicates that PBC’s influence on behavioral intentions (BI) is significantly stronger when the travel distance is greater than 1000 km (β = 0.44) compared to when it is less than 1000 km (β = 0.28)
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Japan introduced HSR first in 1964, followed by Italy, France, Spain, the UK, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, and China Since their introduction, much attention has been paid to HSR as an alternative mode of transport to promote tourism for the following reasons: reduced traffic congestion; improved air quality; travel time and cost savings; increased connectivity within regions; and improved accessibility to smaller cities [1]. Several researchers have investigated consumer behavior in the context of low-cost airlines by examining the relation between perceived service quality, behavioral intention, and actual behavior, as well as attitude’s mediating effect [17]. This study integrates service quality into the TPB to explain travelers’ intention to use HSR in future and explore the relation. HSR passengers’ service quality and intention to use in future and the mediating effect of TPB attributes—ATT, SN, and PBC
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